Finding The Positives In A 4-3 Loss

The Twins have lost 7 of their last 8 games. Their pitching has been the source of most of the problem, simply giving away too many runs for the offense to keep up. Even in a weakened AL Central, where the supposed future champion Tigers are plodding along with a .500 record, the Twins are stuck at the bottom of the division.

Twins fans have little to feel optimistic about this season. However, after falling to the Angels 4-3 last night, I’m ready to argue that Twins fans should feel slightly more optimistic today than they did last week. No, I haven’t hit my head or taken a bunch of perception altering medication – I’ve just seen enough from the Twins to think this team could be close to overcoming their early season woes.

Yes, the Twins fell to the Angels last night in another contest where they left too many runners on base in scoring position and gave up one too many key hits (In this case, Alex Burnett’s one bad pitch to Ianetta in the 7^th proved the difference). But that’s the ‘glass half empty’ approach.

I prefer to look at it this way. Nick Blackburn, one start after looking absolutely abysmal against the Red Sox, pitched 6 strong innings and only gave up 3 earned runs. These are the types of starts the Twins need from the pitchers. Keep the game within reach, limit the opposition to 2 to 3 runs and don’t let things get out of hand. If the starters can go 6 innings deep on average, that lets Gardy use Burton, Perkins, Duensing or Capps (the more reliable bullpen arms) to close out the game.

Yes, the offense only mustered 3 runs – but that was against the dominant pitching of CJ Wilson, who went 7.1 innings deep into the game. Teams are going to run into dominant starters from time to time (especially in the AL with Verlander, Sabathia, Wilson, Darvish, Price and Hernandez – to name a few – taking the mound regularly). There’s no shame in dropping a close game to a dominant pitcher when your number 3 starter is on the mound.

Yes, it’s a loss – yes, it was a 1 run loss in a game where the Twins left a lot of scoring chances on the bases. But, Blackburn pitched 6 strong innings and the Twins kept it close. This was following Jason Marquis’ strong 3 earned run, 6 inning effort on Sunday. Hopefully this is an indicator that the starting staff has turned a corner and will be able to keep games close from here on out. If that’s the case, the wins will come for this team. They’re better than 6-16, they’re not a playoff team – but they will be in the mix for awhile late in the year.

Looking Forward:

All that positive momentum and energy is primed to take a shot to the heart tonight as Francisco Liriano takes to the mound tonight. We don’t need to delve any further into the absolute disaster Liriano has been on the mound this year; his 11.02 ERA tells the entire story. Liriano’s last start against the Angels ended up in a Twins win, but that had nothing to do with his pitching – rather it was entirely dependant on Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer smashing home runs.

If Liriano can take the mound tonight and go 5 to 6 solid innings while only allowing 2-3 runs, I think the Twins have a chance. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the faith in Liriano to get it done. Odds are Pujols gets his first homer of the year and the Angels cruise to an easy 8-3 victory. Hopefully Franky steps out there and proves me wrong. Hopefully a skipped start has fixed his head and he’ll become the dominant starter we need him to be. Hopefully.

We’ll speculate more on the Twins rotation tomorrow – as Liriano’s efforts tonight may be the catalyst for changes if things don’t go well. Until then,

Go Twins!